The Minnesota Wild had a field day with the man advantage on Friday night, scoring a ridiculous five goals on the powerplay en route to a 6-4 win over the Florida Panthers.
It was a much-needed win for a Wild team that had lost nine of 11 games coming into the cross-divisional tilt. Franchise history was also tied for Minnesota in the victory:
“The Wild, who tied their franchise record for most power-play goals in a single contest, also matched the Stars (Nov. 12, 2023 at MIN) for the highest total by any team this season,” wrote NHL Public Relations on Saturday morning.
Minnesota jumped out to a 4-1 in the second period, led by PP tallies from Kirill Kaprizov, Ryan Hartman, Brock Faber and Matz Zuccarello, in that order. Kaprizov would add another — the game-winning goal — just 41 seconds into the final frame.
The Russian superstar finished with three points, with rookie and Calder Trophy contender Faber adding three of his own.
“Kaprizov tallied multiple power-play goals in a single contest for the first time in this career and became the third player in franchise history with 20 multi-goal outings, joining Marian Gaborik (41) and Zach Parise (25),” per NHL Public Relations. “He also climbed the club’s all-time multi-point games list, surpassing Ryan Suter (72) for sole possession of the fourth most.”
As well, Faber's second career three-point game vaulted the 21-year-old into a tie for the third-most points among rookies this season, with 25 points in 45 games.
Wild almost blew it
Despite cruising to a 4-1 lead halfway through the game, the Panthers would mount a comeback in front of the 19,595 in attendance at Amerant Bank Arena.
The Cats would make it 4-2 before the end of the second, and after Kaprizov made it 5-2 on the PP early in the third, Florida scored two goals in 18 seconds to make it 5-4.
But Filip Gustavsson shut the door in relief of Marc-Andre Fleury the rest of the way, who was injured on questionable contact from Panthers forward Will Lockwood in the opening frame. The forward will hear from the NHL Department of Safety this weekend.
Gustavsson made 21 saves — and 17 in the third period — to stymy the comeback attempt.
With the powerplay clicking, the Wild will look to turn things around in the second half, starting with a game in Carolina against the Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon.
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